Daily Akiba
by ShinAyasaki
Summary: A collection of short stories detailing the lives of Nanashi and the Akiba Freedom Fighters.
1. Choices

**Scene - Nanashi's training options after the first fight with Zenya.**

"Nanashi, what do you think?" asked Yuto innocuously, "Which training method seems best to you?"

Nanashi surveyed the room, focusing in particular on the three stares being sent his way by Shizuku, Tohko, and Ms. Kasugai. "Uh, well, why just pick only one option? I mean, it's not like this is a dating sim where choosing one method over the others raises a flag, right?"

"Dude, are you serious?" exclaimed Kaito before anyone else could get a word in. "That is EXACTLY what this situation is! You have three ladies advocating three options, this is your chance to get ahead with one of 'em! Don't squander the opportunity!"

Sighs and facepalms went round the Freedom Fighters, Tohko going so far as to hit the back of Kaito's head, much to his annoyance.

"You bring up a good point, Nanashi," continued Yuto, ignoring his brother's outburst. "There's really not much point to confining yourself to a single path if you don't have to."

"A fair solution," added Shizuku quietly.

"Yeah, this is probably the most sense you've made all day," said Tohko. She chuckled. "And here I thought you were a lost cause."

"Gee thanks…" replied Nanashi blandly.

"Hm, hm, hm… I suppose we can always look at this as a 'natural enhancement versus artificial enhancement' case study," mused Ms. Kasugai with a ponderous hum.

"Well alright then!" said Pops encouragingly. "Looks like you're gonna be on a really long trainin' montage for the foreseeable future."

"Okay, let's do it!" exclaimed Tohko, excited at the prospect of doing something outside MOGRA that wasn't patrolling or college related. "Let's head to the battle arena and start a workout!" She turned to the others. "Anyone else want in?"

"Nah, I'm good," responded Kaito predictably, "Someone's gotta patrol while you guys are gone." He slung his backpack over a shoulder as he turned to leave. "I'm gonna head out to Main Street, maybe get a figure or two. See ya!"

Yuto sighed. "I guess I should go with him, if only to make sure he doesn't spend all his food money. I'll see you later. Hope everything turns out!"

"Oh, oh!" exclaimed Kati, " I shall see if the little sister wishes to join me in patrolling the plaza!" The blonde maid quickly disappeared into the back room. "Oh little sister~!" came her voice as the door closed behind her.

Tohko shrugged. "Shizuku? You in?"

"Yes," agreed Shizuku, "The battle arena is the perfect location for expanding Nanashi's mind, so I can work on that with him afterwards."

"As much as I'd like to join," interjected Ms. Kasugai, "I'll have to meet up with you later. I need to swing by one of Daishihon's facilities and pick up the latest formula. Ta-ta for now though!" she called as she exited.

Nanashi shrugged. "Shall we?"

Tohko grinned. "Let's do it!"


	2. Move-In Day

**Scene - Shizuku accepts the Freedom Fighters' invitation of residence, and the gang goes to see her new room.**

"Holy hell, Pops! What are you keeping up here?!" cried Kaito. He looked around the dusty, box-filled room with awe, a flashlight in hand as the other Akiba Freedom Fighters slowly trickled into the upstairs room.

"Woah! This place is a mess!" exclaimed Tohko, "How on earth are you expecting anyone to live up here?!"

Pops' figure fumbled around in the darkness, groping along the wall before his fingers found purchase in the form of a light switch. "S'not so bad once you give the place a good one over," he replied. Above them, a single, dim lightbulb sparked to life, casting a depressing shadow over the squalor of boxes. "Huh. That was supposed to turn on at least three other lights around here..."

"I'm fairly certain this place would break several housing safety laws and regulations if you were to ever actually rent this room out to someone," remarked Yuto, wisely sidestepping what looked to be a dead rat plopped directly in the middle of the floor.

"Well, at least we finally found something about MOGRA that's worse than the food," said Kaito.

"Yeah, yeah, I agree it needs some touching up, but the room is fine," defended Pops, "What do you think, Shizuku?"

"...It's very… secure," replied Shizuku uncertainly, noting the lack of windows.

"That's true," mused Nanashi curiously, "If there aren't any windows, then you could totally walk around naked without having to worry about spontaneously combusting." Shizuku blushed as Tohko swatted him with a fist, eliciting a yelp from the protagonist.

"What's in all these boxes anyway?" wondered Kaito aloud, running a finger along a closed cardboard flap.

Pops chuckled. "Oh, those things? They're just priceless relics from an old man's life." ("Priceless is right," muttered Kaito) "I've got a lot of stuff stored away up here. Feel free to use whatever you can find to tidy up the place," he said over his shoulder as he started down the narrow stairwell to the main area of the bar.

"Wait, you're just leaving?!" exclaimed Nanashi, "You're not going to help?"

"You know me, I'm old! But you kids are young and strong. What's a little cleaning to a bunch of determined young adults?" he said with a dismissive wave over his shoulder. "Besides," he muttered to himself, "Gotta make sure Kati's got a good handle on the front…"

"And this is the guy who encourages hard work?" deadpanned Nanashi.

"Oh-would-you-look-at-the-time-we-gotta-head-out-for-patrol-have-a-nice-night-see-ya!" shouted Kaito with a single breath as he dragged his brother downstairs to escape hard labor.

The remaining three Freedom Fighters blinked stupidly, the clambering footfalls of the Tachibana brothers fading, as did Yuto's complaints about being manhandled. Nanashi turned to Tohko. "You won't leave us… right?" Nanashi curled his lip and tried his best to look pathetic while begging. He succeeded admirably, though whether or not that was a good thing…

The brunette cyclist sighed. "Yeah, I'll stay and help fix up this place."

"Yay! Thank you Toh-chan!" cheered Nanashi.

"Thank you, Tohko," said Shizuku with a smile.


	3. Aggressive Recruitment

"What is going on here?!" exclaimed Tohko as she pushed her way through the uncharacteristically crowded interior of MOGRA to the retro game library and arcade area at the back. To add to the strangeness, it seemed as if the entire crowd was composed of nothing but maids.

"A little help here!" called Nanashi from somewhere within the sea of people. Tohko grasped at a familiar hand and yanked, pulling the poor human-synthister hybrid stumbling through before he hit the floor face first. "Thanks…" he mumbled from the carpet rug below.

"Kaito, Yuto, what's going on?!" asked Tohko as she helped Nanashi to his feet, "Where are Pops and Kati?"

"Somewhere in the center of that mess no doubt," answered the older sibling wearily. He groaned, sinking further into the couch.

"That seems likely," agreed Yuto, "Though we just returned from our patrol a few minutes ago, so we can't be certain." Though he seemed just as winded as Kaito, he was holding himself together far better.

"I honestly thought if I died, I might make it into maid heaven," said Kaito unhelpfully, "But I never thought I'd live and go to maid hell!"

"More like maid hell came to you," quipped Nanashi.

"Have you seen the others?" asked Tohko, getting the conversation back on track.

"No," answered Yuto, "But Pitter is alight with a new thread promoting another one of Rin's street concerts. Shizuku is probably accompanying her to offer moral support."

"What?!" exclaimed Nanashi, "Rin's having another concert?! What are we waiting for, let's go!" He turned to leave, when Tohko's iron grip clamped down on his shirt and held him back. "ACK!" Everything happened so quickly he found himself on the floor yet again.

"Hold on there, tiger," scolded Tohko, "We just spent the past twenty minutes wading through that ocean of maids to get to here, this little untouched corner of paradise, and now you want to go back out?! Are you insane?!"

"Such is the determination of a true otaku!" Nanashi said passionately….which would have had a greater effect if he wasn't still lying on the floor. "And one of Rin's biggest fans!"

"Not gonna happen, Brometheus," came the unexpected voice of everyone's favorite little sister character as she sat daintily on her older brother.

"Nana?! How did you get through the gauntlet of maids?!"

"I'm small. I'm quick. And I'm utterly adorable. The maids never stood a chance."

Everyone took a second to contemplate the mysteries of Nana's little sister powers, some marvelling at their miraculous applications, others in complete stupefaction.

Nana continued. "Also. I thought you might like to know. These fiendish maids, beautiful though they may be, are all here to take our beloved Kati away from us."

"WHAT?!" chorused the four Freedom Fighters in surprise.

Nana nodded. "It all started a few hours ago with a Plip about the best maid in Akiba. Someone recommended Kati. Others agreed. Now all the maid cafes want Kati for themselves." She frowned, casting an adorable glare at the gathered maids.

"Seriously? Geez, this is almost as bad as that one time we got flooded with yaoi fangirls," mused Nanashi.

"Hey!" shouted Kaito, "We agreed never to speak of that again!"

"Yes…" winced Yuto as unwanted recollections flooded his mind. "Please don't bring up such unpleasant memories."

Nanashi's grin only widened, but he said nothing more. The implications were clear enough.

"Right… Well, what do we do about this?" asked Tohko to the group.

Kaito pulled out his phone and fired up a free-to-play gaming app. "Not much we can do, other than wait for Kati and Pops to reject the offers. I mean, Kati likes it here, and she doesn't care about money so there's no real chance of her leaving."

"That seems like the best, if most boring, course of action," agreed Yuto thoughtfully.

Tohko sighed, shaking her head. "Great…"

"If you'd like," offered Nanashi as he stood, "I could always…" He trailed off, wiggling his fingers suggestively.

"No!" rejected Tohko vehemently. "You are NOT going to strip an entire army of maids! They're all going to run away and we'll be stuck with the uniforms! Like what happened with the last five maids you stripped!"

"But I spent a whole week practicing my finisher!" he protested, attempting to do his best impression of a kicked puppy. "Can't you let me use it just this once?" He quivered his lip for good measure.

Only for Tohko to slam her fist into his head. "NO!" she shouted. "There will be no stripping, no finishers, and absolutely no depriving girls of their underwear!"

"But To-chan!"

"No!"

"As interesting as this conversation is," interrupted Nana, "I'm heading back to my room now. See ya later Brolar Bear." Nana slipped into the sea of maids near instantly, prompting the onlookers to blink to make sure it'd really happened.

"Well if someone," started Nanashi, casting a pointed look at Tohko, who responded with an eyeroll, "Isn't going to let me go to the concert, then I guess it's just retro arcade games for us until the heat dies down."

The cyclist sighed in resignation, knowing her friend spoke naught but the truth, not that she had to like it. "All right, all right…" she said, helping Nanashi search through the shelves, picking cartridges at random. "Got anything good?"

"I kinda wonder who started this whole thing," interrupted Kaito musingly. "You know, by recommending Kati for best maid in Akiba."

"I too am curious," agreed Yuto as he scrolled through his phone, threads zipping by with little more than minute finger movements. "Ah. Here's the original thread," he announced a few seconds later. "Now let's see…"

He blinked. "Well. I suppose I can't say I'm surprised. It seems Kati was first recommended by SEVEN_CHAN."

"Wait, isn't that…?"

The four Freedom Fighters turned to look in the general direction of where Nana's room was. At least, they thought they did. All the maids really lowered visibility.

Tohko sighed. "And she used to have such a bright future…"


End file.
